I recently told some friends of mine that I refuse to pray frivolous prayers. I won’t waist my time just spouting words because I know that if I ask anything of my Father, He will do it. I’m not just quoting some random Scripture, I am serious. I have looked into the eyes of my Father and have absolute confidence that He will respond to whatever I ask of Him. I know He will hear me, and He will respond. This is why my wife sends me a text during a break, asking me to pray for a specific person or situation. First, she knows that I will pray, and secondly, she knows our Father will answer.

I am not bragging or saying that I am special. Heaven knows that ain’t true! I just know that His deepest pain comes when His children doubt Him! They pray, but then wonder if He will respond. Their hearts are filled with disbelief. Tell me! Why are they praying if they aren’t sure whether He will answer them? I could give you a whole list a of sins that believing Christians practice, but none of them would come close to the sin of unbelief; of doubting Him despite all of the evidence He has given us in His Word! I believe this sin of unbelief is the mother of all sin!!

Look, I am not talking about the kind of unbelief that comes from a hardened sinner. They don’t move Yahweh’s heart, any. They don’t believe because their eyes and mind are blind. But those who have come humbly to Him and sought forgiveness and received Salvation! No, what angers Him most of all is the unbelief and troubling doubts of those who say they love Him and trust Him with all their hearts and then hesitate and cling to their doubts; their fear and their unbelief! This is what grieves Him more than all others sins we commit!

Oh, you doubt me? You think that I am exaggerating? Look what Jude, the brother of James wrote:

“Dear friends, I had intended to write to you about the salvation we share. But something has come up. It demands that I write to you and encourage you to continue your fight for the Christian faith that was entrusted to God’s holy people once for all time . . . Now I want to remind you, though you were fully informed once for all, that though the Lord at one time delivered a people out of the land of Egypt, He subsequently destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 1:3, 5).

Wow! What was that all about? Well, it seems that Jude trying to remind the believers of God’s attitude toward unbelief! Essentially, he was saying, “Oh friends, please remember Yahweh’s utter hatred for unbelief among His people. To have saved them, then for them to turn around a doubt Him, hurts Him and He destroyed those who did not believe!”

Oh my friends, draw close to your Father. Let Him show you what He was shown me. Remember those words from Jude! Then hear Paul explain, “These things happened to make them an example for others. These things were written down as a warning for us who are living in the closing days of history” (I Corinthians 10:11). Okay, maybe He won’t destroy His people physically like He did way back in the Old Testament, but His judgments on our unbelief today are just as severe.

Our unbelief is just as destructive today as it was back then. Nothing has changed, in that regard. No, we may not turn into a pillar of salt, but we do become stiff-necked and bitter! I haven’t heard any tales of the ground opening up to swallowing anyone, but I do know that people are being swallowed by troubles, stress and family problems. I realize that fire does not come down and consume us, but our spiritual lives are being destroyed through our unbelief.

The problem is that many of us are guilty of unbelief, but we don’t fear it. We don’t take our unbelief seriously. Instead, we live as though our God is ignoring or giving us a reassuring wink. But friends, our unbelief will open our body and spirit to every other sin know to man.

Don’t dismiss your unbelief and hesitation of His Promises too quickly, because He wants to prove Himself to you. He wants you to know Him and rely on every Word that is uttered from His mouth!

Nickolas

(I send out messages like this each morning in emails, and if you are interested in receiving them, send me your email address and I will add you to the list: Mail List)